1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to canine floatation devices, and more particularly, to a canine floatation device and harness system with frontal flotation combined with attached water wings that, when deployed, lie flat on the water's surface and promote greater stability and buoyancy. A canine floatation collar is also disclosed.
2. Description of the Background
There are a variety of canine floatation devices that generally support the animal when in a water environment. The existing devices generally comprises a wrap-around vest formed of closed-cell foam or the like, that buckles around the dog. This particular design and construction has a degree of inherent instability that typically limits the use to “normal and healthy” participants that can assist in maintaining themselves upright in the water.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. D507,084 issued to Sabeth-Azar on Jul. 5, 2005 discloses an ornamental design for a pet floatation device. Sabeth-Azar's pet floatation device has two separate floating sections, one atop the back and one beneath the chest. This invention suffers from the aforementioned drawback, namely that the floatation sections do not promote any lateral stability, and the dog will tend to rollover in the water.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,160,167 to Peters issued Jan. 9, 2007 shows an a animal safety apparatus including a strap-like carrier and one or more non-inflatable floatation members secured substantially adjacent the carrier by a cover material stitched to the carrier.
Despite the foregoing, swimming and other water activities remain especially difficult for small dogs, or dogs that are handicapped, obese, or otherwise suffer from limited mobility. Small dogs have much shorter legs (and no inherent ballast or stability), and are far more susceptible to choppiness and wave motion. Likewise, handicapped dogs cannot counter wave motion and cannot use their legs to keep themselves upright. In both cases the dogs are very prone to rollover and drowning.
It would be greatly advantageous to provide a canine floatation device adapted especially for small dogs and dogs that suffer from limited mobility, which incorporates: 1) lateral water wings to promote floatation stability and prevent rollover: (2) a harness system that maintains the water wings in place for single plane buoyancy; (3) provides comfort and independence by allowing the wearer to swim freely or walk; (4) possesses a simple and scalable design for adaptation to any size dog; (6) is fabricated of lightweight and reflective materials providing an appropriate degree of buoyancy, comfort, flexibility, resiliency, durability, and longevity; and (6) is inexpensive to manufacture and sell for widespread use.